Have you seen those worship gatherings where a band will rent out an empty warehouse with the ceiling and ducts trendily exposed, warmed by vintage-looking light bulbs cascading haphazardly throughout the room, filled with worshipers singing their hearts out to the One who deserves it all? This scene may remind you of younger artists such as United Pursuit or Housefires.
However, just about a year ago 61-year-old Michael W. Smith released a video following this style, and it was beautiful. You can watch it here, and I can almost guarantee that you will be moved by both the variety of ages present and the lyrics of the song. There is just something special about seeing intergenerational worshipers unashamedly praising their faithful God and declaring, “This is how I fight my battles.” Regardless of age, followers of the Way fight by praising our God Who is bigger than the battle!
Most people are more familiar with Upper Room or Bethel’s performances of this song, and honestly all of them are wonderful. But I love that Michael’s video subtly emphasizes what they are singing: we get through our battles by praising our faithful God.
Some of those worshipers look as though they have been walking with the Lord longer than I’ve been alive. To see them praising God in later seasons of their lives is a huge encouragement to the younger generation because they are living proof that no matter what valleys we walk through in life, God is faithful! He is worth worshiping boldly with our whole hearts. He deserves for us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
The song they are singing is called “Surrounded (Fight My Battles)” and it was birthed by the Holy Spirit in a Monday morning prayer set. Upper Room’s worship leader Elyssa Smith set aside time to pray and worship with her brother and another friend on Mondays from 10 AM until noon. They meditated on scripture and sang out what Holy Spirit led them to. It’s such an honor to be able to hear the heart of God and sing out what He is saying. Moments like that take us deeper in Him and lead to breakthrough.
One of the passages of scripture that inspired them to sing this song was 2 Kings 6. I’d like to use this blog post to paint the picture for you.
Somewhere between 892 and 832 B.C., the king of Syria determined to go to war against the king of Israel. In the secret confidence of his most trusted counselors, the Syrian king told his counselors where he was going to strategically place his camp. What he didn’t know was that there was a man named Elisha who walked so intimately with the Living God that he received divine insight. God passed onto Elisha the secret plans the king of Syria was making, and Elisha passed that information to the king of Israel.
Already in this chapter we see an amazing principle that most of us do not live out: we have access to the King of Glory! He knows the end from the beginning, is perfect in knowledge and wisdom, and invites us into relationship with Him. We can bring Him every question and scenario we encounter, and He knows perfectly how to respond.
How much would change in our world if every single government official, leader, teacher, scientist, doctor, etc. yielded to Him and asked Holy Spirit to lead and guide them? Before Einstein’s theory of relativity, God knew how it would work because He made it. Prior to Tylenol, God knew what acetaminophen was and how it would work. God knows what military plans, personal dreams, and ingrained fears exist inside the heart of the leader of each country. Again, He is perfect in knowledge and wisdom.
We do ourselves a huge disservice by thinking we can walk through life without inviting Jesus to be our Lord and counselor. (A lord is someone who has power, authority, and influence over another: a master or ruler.)
Honestly we probably resist surrendering to Jesus as Lord because of pride in our hearts. We think we know what’s best. We have plans, goals, and dreams for our lives, and maybe God will send us to Africa if we surrender to Him. But that’s a ridiculous excuse to shut Jesus out, because He sees the end from the beginning so He knows what is best for you.
We simply don’t trust Him.
Fortunately for Israel, Elisha trusted God and listened to His voice, and their king did the same (at least, in this circumstance he did – you’ll find that many of the kings of Israel and Judah did not trust God, and that led to lots of devastation, as it does to us!).
Chapter 6 of 2 Kings continues to narrate that the king of Israel heeded Elisha’s warning, so he sent spies to where the Syrians were encamped. The Israelites kept a continual watch over the Syrians, so much so that the Syrian king began to lose trust in his household. He confronted his servants and basically said, “Which one of you is a traitor and is telling the Israelites all of my secret plans?!”
However, one of his servants knew what was really going on here. He shared that Elisha, the prophet, tells the Israeli king the words that the Syrian king speaks in his most private chambers (vs. 12). God heard him, God told Elisha, Elisha told the king of Israel.
Elisha’s job title, prophet, simply means that he proclaimed the words and the will of God. The wise heeded God’s instruction; the foolish (or prideful) ignored it.
Filled with rage, the Syrian king sent horses, chariots, and a great army in the dead of night to surround the city where Elisha was. The Syrian king could not stop God from hearing his secret plans, so he decided he would spare no expense to eliminate the messenger. The next morning when Elisha and his servant woke up to begin their day, the servant looked outside and was overwhelmed with fear at the sight of the army. He cried out, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
How many times do we respond like the servant? You see, we have a real enemy, and Jesus warned us that his goal was to kill, steal, and destroy. And that’s just what he does. The devil and the principalities and powers of darkness do as much damage as they are authorized to do, stealing our joy, peace, and hope. And we let our hearts grow faint, cold, hardened. With defeated spirits, we retreat into a corner, isolate ourselves, and ask, “This is a hopeless situation. I have no one to turn to – surely the enemy will vanquish me. What shall I do?”
But my brothers! my sisters! Let us have eyes like Elisha!
Elisha, knowing the God he served (much like David did, as I outlined in this blog post), turned to his servant and responded, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
The servant’s first thought might have been confusion. Perhaps he was thinking that Elisha, overcome with the impossibility of the situation, had lost his mind. The whole town of Dothan was completely enclosed by the Syrian army for one purpose: to take Elisha. The servant could only see that he was surrounded by the enemy.
Instead of trying to explain what he meant, Elisha simply turned to God with a simple request: “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.”
The servant was blind. He could see in the physical realm, but he could not see beyond that. His mind had been darkened (see 2 Corinthians 4).
In response to Elisha’s prayer, the Living God opened the eyes of the young man (vs. 17). God’s light illuminated the darkness that had blinded him. What did the servant see when his eyes were opened? Scripture says “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
Elisha could only see that he was surrounded by God.
The lyrics to the song we began with say this:
It may look like I’m surrounded
But I’m surrounded by You
Elisha and the servant’s encounter continues, and God faithfully moves in ways higher than we could even imagine. I encourage you to read it for yourself. I just want to end here by encouraging you.
2018 is coming to a close.
Perhaps this time last year you had no idea what valleys you’d be walking through.
God knew.
You didn’t know you would lose your child.
God knew.
You could not foresee that you’d be buried in debt and lose your job.
God knew.
You could never have guessed that you would experience such pain, loss, and devastation. But God knew. He sees the end from the beginning.
You also could not have predicted the joy, freedom, laughter, and love you’d find. But He was aware of all of those things. He planned to bless you with those gifts. This time in 2017, God knew the goodness He had in store, the mountains He would lead you to after you walked through those deep and dark valleys. He planned to hold your hand through it all.
And God knows what is in store for 2019.
He knows what schemes the enemy is plotting to try to steal your joy, hope, and peace.
Let this be a reminder to you that even when you are surrounded by the enemy, you are also surrounded by the God of angel armies. He is bigger than the battle. His strength will carry you through it all (Philippians 4).
Fight those battles by praising Him. Take your eyes off the mountain and fix them on the mountain Maker.
Praise Him. Ask Him how to prepare for what’s coming. Praise Him. Ask Him how to endure well in the midst of what’s coming. Praise Him. Ask Him to help you get excited about the good things that are coming.
And all the while, praise Him.
